Handan

Handan gave Chinese culture the idiom "邯郸学步" (Hándān xué bù)—"learning to walk in Handan"—describing someone who imitates others so poorly they forget how to walk themselves. The idiom comes from Zhuangzi and captures an irony: a city once so sophisticated that outsiders mimicked its style is now best known as a warning against imitation.

Handan was the capital of the Zhao state during the Warring States period (403-222 BCE), one of the seven major powers competing to unify China. The city's strategic position on the North China Plain, with access to iron ore and coal deposits, made it wealthy enough to attract philosophical talent during China's most intellectually fertile era. After Qin Shi Huang unified China in 221 BCE and moved the capital to Xianyang, Handan began its long decline.

Steel revived Handan in the 20th century. The Handan Iron and Steel Group (Hansteel) became one of China's largest state-owned steel producers, and the surrounding Hebei province produces more steel than any country on Earth except China itself. Handan's contribution to that output is significant: the city's economy revolves around steel, coal, ceramics, and building materials.

The environmental cost is severe. Hebei's steel industry made the province synonymous with air pollution, and Handan regularly appeared on China's most-polluted cities lists. Government mandates to reduce steel overcapacity have forced plant closures and production cuts, threatening the economic base that sustains the city.

Handan's historical sites—the ruins of Zhao Wang Cheng (the Zhao royal city), Congtai Terrace, and the Cishan archaeological site (early agriculture, dating to roughly 8,000 BCE)—attract domestic tourists but cannot replace steel revenue.

Handan's modern challenge mirrors its ancient idiom: a city trying to learn a new economic walk without forgetting the industrial stride that currently sustains it.